Method and system for soft handoff in mobile broadband systems

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method and system for facilitating efficient handoff and data throughput in mobile broadband communication systems. Methods implemented by a system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention include selectively enabled soft handoff, performing Layer 2 bearer functions at the base station and using the mobile device to coordinate soft handoff and interference avoidance without the need for a centralized coordination function.

This application claims the benefit of priority from and is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/058,381, entitled“Method and System for Soft Handoff in Mobile Broadband Systems” andfiled Mar. 2, 2016, which claims the benefit of priority from and is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/893,157, entitled“Method and System for Soft Handoff in Mobile Broadband Systems” andfiled May 13, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,307,472), which claims thebenefit of priority from and is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/158,095, entitled “Method and System for SoftHandoff in Mobile Broadband Systems” and filed Jun. 10, 2011 (now U.S.Pat. No. 8,442,009), which claims the benefit of priority from and is adivisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/596,603, entitled“Method and System for Soft Handoff in Mobile Broadband Systems” andfiled on Oct. 24, 2007 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,979,072), which claims thebenefit of priority from and is a U.S. National Stage Patent Applicationof International Patent Application Number PCT/CA2005/000862, entitled“Method and System for Soft Handoff in Mobile Broadband Systems” andfiled on Jun. 3, 2005, which claims the benefit of priority from U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/577,366, entitled “Method and System forSoft Handoff in OFDMA/MIMO based Mobile Broadband Systems with Layer 2Processing at the Base Station” and filed on Jun. 4, 2004, U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/581,089, entitled “Method and System forSelectively Enabling Soft Handoff based on the Quality of ServiceRequirements of a Service in Mobile Broadband Systems” and filed on Jun.18, 2004, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/586,393, entitled“System and Method for Mobile Coordinated Multi-Base ResourceReservation for Downlink/Uplink Soft Handoff and Interference Avoidance”and filed on Jul. 8, 2004, all of which are fully incorporated herein byreference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Application

The present invention relates to the field of broadband cellularcommunication systems, and in particular to techniques for facilitatingefficient handoff and data throughput, such as using selectively enabledsoft handoff, performing Layer 2 bearer functions at the base stationand using the mobile device to coordinate soft handoff and interferenceavoidance without the need for a centralized coordination function.

Background of the Disclosure

Soft handoff (“SHO”) is a macro-diversity scheme in which the sameinformation is sent to the BTSs via multiple base stations, as opposedto selecting the best station for transmission time to time (as in fastcell selection). Soft handoff may be described generally as transmittingthe same information via multiple base stations, as opposed to selectingthe best station for transmission from time to time (an example of thelatter is fast cell selection). The multiple base stations are selectedby the mobile device on the basis of specified signal strength criteria.If selected, a base station becomes a member of the mobile device'sactive set.

Normally, when a mobile device enters SHO, all active services at themobile device are supported by SHO. The basis of conventional SHO is theestablishment of virtual circuits at the multiple active set basestation transceiver systems (“BTSs”). Base station transceiver systemsare generally known in the art. Of note, SHO is not defined for the“fat-pipe” packet based versions of current systems (e.g., downlinks of1×EV-DO/DV and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System High SpeedData Packet Access (“HSDPA”) systems). 1×EV-DO/DV is a CDMA2000standard.

Techniques for supporting soft handoff in a general fashion are known.For example, the conventional procedure for triggering soft handoffinvolves the maintenance of an “active set” of BTSs at each mobiledevice. A BTS becomes a candidate set member when the pilot signalstrength of that BTS exceeds a predetermined value, referred to as aT_ADD value. A BTS is no longer a member of an active set when its pilotsignal strength falls below another predetermined value, referred to asT_DROP value, and remains below the T_DROP value for a period defined bythe handoff drop timer. (see, for example, Sec. 2.6.6.2.3,TIA-2000.5-D). The mobile resets and disables the handoff drop timer ifthe strength of the corresponding pilot exceeds T_DROPs. If the timerexpires, the BTS is removed from the active set and the mobile device isno longer in SHO with that specific BTS. For adding new BTSs into theactive set, the mobile device reports that a Candidate Set pilot isstronger than an Active Set pilot only if the difference between theirrespective strengths is at least a predetermined value, referred to forexample by T_COMP.times.0.5 dB. Thus BTSs are added and removed from theactive set on the basis of a set of triggers based on pilot strength.

Once BTSs enter an active set, SHO is initiated. The current trigger forSHO as per the Telecommunication Industries Association CDMA 2000standard, TIA-2000.5-D, Upper Layer (Layer 3) Signaling Standard forCDMA2000 Spread Spectrum Systems, is as follows:

“When the Active Set contains more than one pilot, the mobile stationshould provide diversity combining of the associated Forward TrafficChannels” (p-2-586, TIA-2000.5-D).

FIGS. 1 & 2 are derived from TIA-2000.5-D, relating to the eligibilityof BTSs to enter or leave active sets are discussed herein to provide amore specific example of inclusion/deletion from an active set.TIA-2000.5-D, in its entirety, is herein incorporated by reference.Referring first to FIG. 1 which shows a typical pilot signal lifecyclefor a corresponding BTS, at time (1), the pilot signal strength isgreater than T_ADD and the mobile device sends a Pilot StrengthMeasurement Message and transfers the pilot to the Candidate Set ofBTSs. At time (2), the base station sends an Extended Handoff DirectionMessage, a General Handoff Direction Message or a Universal HandoffDirection message to the mobile device. At time (3), the mobile devicetransfers the BTS corresponding to the pilot to the Active Set and sendsa Handoff Completion message. At time (4), the pilot strength dropsbelow T_DROP and the mobile device starts it handoff drop timer. Thehandoff drop timer expires at time (5) and the mobile device sends aPilot Strength Measurement Message to the BTS. At time (6), the basestation sends an Extended Handoff Direction Message, a General HandoffDirection Message or a Universal Handoff Direction message to the mobiledevice. At time (7), the mobile device moves the BTS corresponding tothe pilot signal from the Active Set to the Neighbor Set and sends aHandoff Completion Message to the BTS.

FIG. 2 shows typical pilot signal lifecycles for pilot signals P1 and P2corresponding to multiple BTSs. At time (1), pilot P2 strength exceedsT_ADD and the mobile device transfers the BTS corresponding to the pilotsignal to the Candidate Set. At time (2), the pilot signal P2 strengthexceeds ((SOFT_SLOPE/8)*10*log.sub.10 (PS1)+ADD_INTERCEPT/2) and themobile device sends a Pilot Strength Measurement Message to the BTS. Attime (3), the base station corresponding to pilot signal P2 sends anExtended Handoff Direction Message, a General Handoff Direction Messageor a Universal Handoff Direction message to the mobile device, themobile device transfers the BTS corresponding to pilot signal P2 to theactive set and sends a Handoff Completion Message to the BTS. At time(4) the pilot signal P1 strength drops below((SOFT_SLOPE/8)*10*log.sub.10 (PS2)+DROP_INTERCEPT/2), and the mobilestation starts the handoff drop timer. The handoff drop timer expires attime (5) and the mobile device sends a Pilot Strength MeasurementMessage to the BTS corresponding to pilot signal P1. At time (6), theBTS corresponding to pilot signal P1 sends a sends an Extended HandoffDirection Message, a General Handoff Direction Message or a UniversalHandoff Direction message to the mobile device, the mobile devicetransfers the BTS corresponding to pilot signal P1 to the Candidate Setand sends a Handoff Completion Message to that BTS. At time (7), thepilot signal P1 strength drops below T_DROP and the mobile device startsthe handoff drop timer. The handoff drop times expires at time (8) andthe mobile device moves the BTS corresponding to pilot signal P1 fromthe Candidate Set to the Neighbor Set. Additional details regardingknown soft handoff techniques can be found in the CDMA 2000 standardTIA-2000.5-D.

While SHO can be very beneficial to improve a mobile device'scarrier-to-interference ratio (“C/I”) condition, the network andprocessing resources demanded through the implementation of SHO aresignificant. On the downlink (from BTS to mobile device), two or moreBTSs are required to transmit the same information to a user whichconsumes resources in the BTSs and increases the interference seen byall users within the coverage area of those BTSs. On the uplink (mobiledevice to BTS), while code division multiple access (“CDMA”) systemsonly require additional processing and no specific scheduling ofspectral resource, Orthogonal Frequency Division MultipleAccess/Multiple Input Multiple Output (“OFDMA/MIMO”) systems operatingwith N=1 reuse will require explicit scheduling of uplink spectrumresources, as is done for the downlink.

In current designs, SHO is triggered on the basis of multiple BTSs in amobile device's active set. Currently there is no association of SHOtrigger with the type of service, e.g., real-time services require aconsistent minimum C/I condition to minimize delays in transmission,while “best effort” services do not. This is the case because “besteffort” services can afford multiple retransmissions and wait for themobile device to enter an “up fade”. In an “up fade”, the C/I is higherthan the average within the system, thereby increasing the overallchannel capacity. The increased channel capacity provides support for“best effort” services.

Because SHO is demanding on resources, it is best utilized only on an asneeded basis. Such an as needed basis is determined by the specificconditions that need to be met to support a given service. It isdesirable to have a way to dynamically enter a subset of specific activeservices in a mobile device into SHO based on the current C/I conditionswhen the primary BTS is not able to sustain the service if other meansto support the service (such as fast cell selection) have beenexhausted.

A BTS may modify all handoff related parameters through the ExtendedHandoff Direction/completion message. There is only one set ofparameters available for each mobile device and this set of parametersapplies to all the services that the mobile device is activelysupporting. There is no known system or method for specificallyselecting SHO for certain services or quality of service (“QoS”).

It is desirable to have a system and method in which the SHO decision inpacket based systems is made on the basis of both current radio linkconditions and the requirements of the service(s) or associated dataflows that the mobile device is actively supporting at the time of thedecision. For example, if a mobile device is simultaneously engaged in amultimedia call with text, voice and video, it may be desirable that theSHO be triggered for the specific data flows of the voice and/or videoservices only. Additionally, SHO may be triggered only when otherfeatures, such as power stepping, adaptive modulation, fast cellselection macro-diversity, are inadequate to maintain the servicequality.

In addition, while SHO can be very beneficial to improve a mobile C/Icondition, there is a need for some form of centralized control toenable simultaneous transmissions from multiple BTSs using the sameresource, i.e., radio channel, frequency and code. This requirescoordination of the resources among participating BTSs. Typically, thecoordination is done in a centralized manner using a network entity suchas the radio network controller (“RNC”), which co-ordinates thefunctions of the BTSs.

There is no existing system or method for enabling base stationtransceiver resource co-ordination without the aid of a centralizednetwork entity such as a RNC. Multi-base station resource co-ordinationis usually done by a central entity such as a RNC. As such some Layer 2resource functions, such as scheduling reservations for SHO, need to bemade at a central common entity in the network.

The wireless communication industry is moving toward distributedarchitectures where the wireless network edge nodes do not requirecentral control functions and are able to cover the intended coverageareas adequately and uniformly. However, because interference amongneighboring sectors is very high (especially in reuse one systems),methods of interference avoidance or coordinated transmission techniquessuch as SHO are required to provide adequate coverage. Such techniquesrequire centralized base station transceiver resource co-ordination and,therefore, cannot be implemented under a distribute architectures. Oneof the major challenges faced by the industry in moving towarddistributed architecture is to improve coverage without using suchcentralized control functions.

There have been proposals which suggest moving all radio Layer 2 mediaaccess control/radio link protocol (“MAC/RLP”) functions to the BTSinstead of carrying them out at a central entity. However, even in thoseproposals, simultaneous resource allocations needed in multiple basestations are still required to be carried out by a central entity. Assuch, these proposals still require a relatively complex accessarchitecture, i.e., the protocols that are used to co-ordinate multipleBTS transmissions. In summary, with known SHO implementations orproposals, disadvantageously (1) either the RNC does all the scheduling,(2) the BTSs must send periodic updates to the RNC, or (3) slots must bereserved/tentatively reserved a priori by the RNC for SHO use. It istherefore desirable to simplify the access network architecture byallowing resource reservation by the mobile devices engaged in SHOinstead of conducting such resource reservation via a central entitysuch as an RNC.

In some cellular networks such as those which support packet datatraffic, there is no central entity to perform such coordination. Thisresults in a cellular network design which therefore precludes the useof soft handoff or any other similar scheme requiring multi-baseresource coordination to improve coverage. It is therefore desirable tohave a system and method to provide a means to enable such flat networksto support soft handoff with the assistance of the mobile device withrespect to the co-ordination of resources at multiple BTSs.

A detrimental characteristic of broadband cellular communication systemsis that they suffer from uneven coverage. To improve coverageperformance, cellular communication systems may employ macro-diversitysuch as the above-described soft handoff. The processing of soft handoffinformation may happen based on internet protocol (“IP”) packetselection diversity, radio link protocol (“RLP”) packet data unit(“PDU”) selection combining (1×EV-DV reverse link), or physical layercombining (1×RTT forward link and reverse link). 1×EV-DV and 1×RTT areCDMA 2000 standards. Soft handoff is naturally controlled by a centralentity such as the RNC.

Current downlink (from base station to mobile device) soft handofftechniques used in power controlled CDMA systems e.g., 1×RTT, involvethe multicasting of RLP PDUs from the RNC to BTSs, followed bysimultaneous transmissions from multiple BTSs. The scheme is designedprimarily for CDMA systems which are based on the RLP at the centralizedRNC. It should be noted that soft handoff is a requisite feature forCDMA systems to address the resultant interference arising from theneighboring cell (using the principle of converting the interference toa wanted signal) and the near-far problem. The near-far problem is wellknown by those of ordinary skill in the art and is not explained herein.

Current uplink soft handoff techniques (from mobile device to basestation), e.g., 1×EV-DO, include the simultaneous reception ofinformation sent by a mobile device by multiple BTSs and forwarding ofthe RLP frames to the RNC where combining in the form of soft combiningor selection combining occurs. For CDMA systems there is no requirementfor explicit scheduling of resources on the uplink because the mobiledevice's unique pseudorandom noise (“PN”) code can be detected by anyBTS. However, a receiver needs to be dedicated at each of the BTSs inthe active set to demodulate the mobile device's transmissions.

Future networks may likely be based on a more distributed architecture,where the Layer 2 processing media access control/radio link protocol(“MAC/RLP”) is done exclusively at the BTS (e.g., Flarion). Furthermore,these networks may be operated with an OFDMA/MIMO air interface. Thesubject invention provides a solution to support soft handoff forOFDMA/MIMO rate controlled systems in which the Layer 2 (MAC/RLP)functions, i.e., segmentation/concatenation of packets, reassembly ofpackets, retransmission, reside exclusively at the BT. Advantageously,the present invention addresses both downlink (“DL”) and uplink (“UL”)soft handoff.

It is desirable to have a system which addresses the coordination oftransmissions from/to different BTSs to/from the mobile device, so thatmultiple BTSs transmit/receive the same data to/from a given mobiledevice to obtain macro-diversity gain in a manner which does not requirecoordinated Layer 2 processing at a central location such as RNC. Thisdesign criterion impacts several aspects of the design such as thesegmentation of data packets, the buffering of data packets, theresource reservation for given service, the simultaneous scheduling of amobile device's packet in all the BTSs in the active set (this isapplicable to both DL and UL transmissions), and the hybrid automaticrepeat request (“HARQ”) or Layer 2 retransmissions for services in softhandoff.

Current DL soft handoff solutions for CDMA apply only to powercontrolled systems. However, there is a need to provide soft handoffsolutions for other types of systems. There is also a need forcentralized RLP processing and buffer management. However, current ULsoft handoff solutions rely on a central entity such as a RNC to providethe coordination by forming the RLP packets such that sequence numbersfor these packets are maintained at the centralized location. Allnegative acknowledgements (“NAKs”) or acknowledgements (“ACKs”) for thetransmissions then terminate at the RNC. This method introducesundesirable complexity in the network architecture, and cannot beimplemented in a distributed Layer 2 architecture.

There is currently no solution to enable soft handoff in a distributedarchitecture where the RLP processing is done at the BTS. It would bedesirable to have a system and method which provides soft handoff in adistributed architecture in which the RLP processing is done at the BTS.

SUMMARY

The present invention advantageously provides a method and system forthe present invention provides methods and systems to facilitate theusability of broadband cellular communication systems. In particular thepresent invention addresses deficiencies in the art by providingtechniques for facilitating efficient handoff and data throughput, suchas using selectively enabled soft handoff, performing Layer 2 bearerfunctions at the base station and using the mobile device to coordinatesoft handoff and interference avoidance without the need for acentralized coordination function.

In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a softhandoff processing method for communication in a mobile broadband systemsupporting a service in which a determination is made as to whether theservice is eligible for soft handoff. Soft handoff is activated if theservice is eligible for soft handoff.

In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides amobile broadband system supporting soft handoff for a service in whichthere are a plurality of base station transceiver systems. A mobiledevice is arranged to engage in wireless communications with theplurality of base station transceiver systems. A controller is inoperative communication with the plurality of base station transceiversystems and the mobile device. The controller determines whether theservice is eligible for soft handoff and activates soft handoff if theservice is eligible for soft handoff.

In accordance with yet another aspect, the present invention provides amethod for communication in a mobile broadband system in which a mobiledevice coordinates communication with a plurality of base stationtransceiver systems by reserving communication resources from theplurality of base station transceiver systems in which a resourcerequest is transmitted to at least one of the plurality of base stationtransceiver systems. Resource availability data is received from the atleast one of the plurality of base station transceiver systems. A commonset of available resources for transmission is selected based on thereceived resource availability data.

In accordance with still another aspect, the present invention providesa mobile broadband system for reserving communication resources in whichthere are a plurality of base station transceiver systems. A mobiledevice is arranged to engage in wireless communications with theplurality of base station transceiver systems. The mobile devicetransmits a resource request to at least one of the plurality of basestation transceiver systems, receives resource availability data fromthe at least one of the plurality of base station transceiver systemsand selects a common set of available resources for transmission basedon the received resource availability data.

In accordance with still yet another aspect, the present inventionprovides a processing method for communication from a mobile device in afirst network to a destination device in a second network using softhandoff in a mobile broadband system in which an active set of basestation transceiver systems is determined. Resource reservation at themacrodiversity support function is determined for the base stationtransceiver systems in the active set of base station transceiversystems for communication of a high level data communication packet.Radio link protocol packets comprising the full high level datacommunication packet are transmitted to the base station transceivers inthe active set based on the determined resource reservations. The fullhigh level data communication packet is forwarded to a macrodiversitysupport function. These steps are repeated for all high level datacommunication packets to be transmitted.

In accordance with still yet another aspect, the present inventionprovides a data packet processing method for communication to a mobiledevice in a first network from a destination device in a second networkusing soft handoff in a mobile broadband system, in which an active setof base station transceiver systems is determined. Each of the datapackets to be transmitted to the mobile device is segmented into radiolink protocol packets based on a predetermined segmentation algorithm. Asynchronized transmission resource reservation for the radio linkprotocol packets is determined and the resource reservation is providedto all base station transceiver systems in the active set. The datapacket is transmitted to each of the base station transceiver systems inthe active set. Each of the radio link protocol packets is transmittedto the mobile device based on the transmission schedule using softhandoff.

In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides amobile broadband system using soft handoff in which there are aplurality of base station transceiver systems. A macrodiversity supportfunction is in data communication with the plurality of base stationtransceiver systems. The macrodiversity support function determinesresource reservation for the base station transceiver systems in theactive set of base station transceiver systems for communication of ahigh level data communication packet. A mobile device is arranged toengage in wireless communications with plurality of base stationtransceiver systems. The mobile device determines an active set of basestation transceiver systems and transmits radio link protocol packetscomprising the full high level data communication packet to the basestation transceivers in the active set based on the determined resourcereservations. The base station transceiver systems forward the full highlevel data communication packet to the macrodiversity support function.

In accordance with an aspect, the present invention provides a mobilebroadband system using soft handoff to facilitate transmission of aplurality of data packets in which there are a plurality of base stationtransceiver systems. A mobile device is arranged to engage in wirelesscommunications with plurality of base station transceiver systems. Themobile device determines an active set of base station transceiversystems. A macrodiversity support function is in data communication withthe plurality of base station transceiver systems. The macrodiversitysupport function determines a synchronized transmission resourcereservation for radio link protocol packets including the data packetand provides the resource reservation to all base station transceiversystems in the active set. The data packet is transmitted to each of thebase station transceiver systems in the active set. The base stationtransceiver systems in the active set segment the data packet into theradio link protocol packets based on a predetermined segmentationalgorithm and transmit each of the radio link protocol packets to themobile device based on the transmission schedule using soft handoff.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present invention, and theattendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readilyunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a typical pilot signal lifecycle for acorresponding BTS;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of typical pilot signal lifecycles for pilot signalscorresponding to multiple BTSs;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary system constructed in accordancewith the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a resource reservation process of the presentinvention when the mobile device is required to notify the BTS;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a resource reservation process of the presentinvention when the mobile device is not required to notify the BTS;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the flow of downlink data communicationprocessing for the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary MAC framing diagram constructed in accordancewith the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing exemplary packet flows for a mobile deviceactive set of BTSs;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the flow of uplink data communicationprocessing for the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of another exemplary system constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention arranged tosupport resource reservation/coordination;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of a process for batch reservation for an entiresession;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart of a dynamic reservation process for downlinkcommunication;

FIG. 13 is a flow chart of a dynamic reservation process for uplinkcommunication;

FIG. 14 is a diagram depicting a window for resource reservations formobile devices using a plurality of BTSs;

FIG. 15 is a flow chart of a process of the present invention forenabling downlink soft handoff in an architecture with distributed Layer2 and with multiple antenna processing options; and

FIG. 16 is a flow chart of an uplink soft handoff method of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawing figures in which like reference designatorsrefer to like elements, there is shown in FIG. 3 a diagram of anexemplary system constructed in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention, and designated generally as 10. System 10 includes amobile device 12 arranged to wirelessly communicate with one or moreBTSs 14 a and 14 b (BTSs 14 are generally referred to herein as BTSs 14)in which the BTSs 14 and the mobile device 12 support soft handoff. Themobile device 12 supports a high level communication protocol such asthe Internet Protocol (“IP”). The BTSs 14 in turn, communicate with aRadio Controller 16, i.e., Radio Network controller (“RNC”), BaseStation Controller (“BSC”) or a server with similar functional support,e.g. mobility, macro-diversity, security via an internal communicationnetwork. As used herein, the RNC 16 represents this controller. The RNC16 provides high level protocol support with external communicationnetworks 18, such as the Internet, and also interacts with managementservers 20 in the core wireless access network 22 to manage the flow ofhigh level protocol packets between the mobile device and the externalnetwork 18, such as the Internet. It should be understood that the termmacro-diversity support functions (“MSF”) 24 as used herein representsthe macro-diversity support functionalities typically residing in theRNC/BSC 16 and/or BTSs 14 or the functions described herein with respectto the present invention. In addition, MSF functionality can be providedby servers in wireless access network 22 and/or external IP network 18.

Mobile device 12 can be any device arranged to engage in wirelesscommunication with a base station such as BTS 14 such as a laptoppersonal computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), cellular telephone,and the like. Mobile device 12 includes a central processing unit,volatile and non-volatile storage devices, wireless transmitter/receiverand other input/output devices operable to perform the functionsdescribed herein. Similarly, BTSs 14, RNC 16 and management servers 20include hardware and software as is known in the art, modified toperform the functions of the present invention as described herein.

Once a system 10 is deployed, the coverage a system 10 can provide toits customers for different services, e.g., voice, data, multimedia,etc., within the system can be estimated based on various propagationmeasurements and system parameters. When a BTS 14 cannot provideadequate coverage for certain services, the coverage can be extendedusing multiple BTSs 14 and SHO techniques so that these services willthen become viable service offerings of the system. The presentinvention advantageously provides a system and method in which SHO isenabled in a dynamic manner based on the service/application or specificdata flows of a user wants to obtain from the system 10.

SHO uses the resources of multiple base stations 14 and additionalsignaling. As such, using SHO is not always beneficial for all desiredapplications under all usage scenarios. For example, when the differencebetween the additional BTS 14 signal and the signal from the primary BTS14 is larger, the SHO gain is small and therefore an optimum SHOthreshold exists beyond which SHO does not provide an overall gain.

This optimum SHO threshold and the number of BTSs 14 engaged in SHO is afunction of the service to be supported and the resultant servicerequirement because the gain from SHO depends on the service type. Forexample, real time services benefit from SHO much more than non-realtime services. For a delay sensitive service such as voice, when amobile device's C/I is low, SHO may be used to enhance operatingperformance by 2-5 times.

For some non-real time services, use of SHO may in fact degrade thesystem's overall performance because of the multiple downlinktransmissions. Multiple downlink transmission use multiple BTS 14resources and additional signaling which impacts the allocation ofresources for other users in the system. This is also an adverse impacton the capacity of the system. For those services, the benefit from SHOgain cannot outweigh the overhead, for example, the capacity impact,caused by SHO. The conventional method is to use SHO irrespective of theservice once a mobile device detects multiple BTSs 14 with strongsignals. As such, irrespective of the service/application type, a mobiledevice 12 will enter into SHO.

Of note, while SHO is not defined for the “fat-pipe” packet basedversions of current systems (e.g., downlinks of 1×EV-DO/DV and HSDPA),SHO is a feature in the fat-pipe based Mobile Broadband System. The“Mobile Broadband System” is an orthogonal frequency division multiplex(“OFDM”) based system being developed by the Nortel Networks wirelesstechnology labs with a similar trigger and approach to resourceallocation as with conventional soft handoff.

The present invention advantageously provides a method and system whichallows the application of SHO selectively for certain types ofservices/flows, e.g. delay sensitive services such as voice, live video,to increase coverage for those services; and allows system operators theability to choose SHO triggering parameters based on servicerequirements. The result is that the advantage of the SHO is maximized.In addition, a system operator can advantageously choose to deploy ascaled down service package, if required, without SHO and later add SHOif necessary to increase the service offerings. Thus, the trigger foractive set membership may remain as defined, e.g., the CDMA standards.However, the trigger for SHO activation is not based solely on more thanone BTS 14 being in the active set.

There are therefore two elements of the design which are employed totrigger SHO once there are multiple BTSs 14 in the active set, namelyeligibility of service for SHO and activating SHO support, and C/I basedtrigger conditions (to add or drop a link) depending on the service tobe supported. In addition, it is contemplated that SHO triggers can alsobe based on one or more additional factors such as received signalstrength, BTS 14 loading, the velocity and location of mobile device 12.Of note, the SHO trigger can be based on the service type.

Eligibility of a Service for SHO and Activating SHO on a Per User andPer Service Flow Basis

In accordance with the present invention, SHO can be supported for aspecific application or service of a mobile device 12. In addition, itis possible that only some of the traffic and signaling flows associatedwith the service or application (which require SHO for serviceenhancement) are supported with SHO while others do not use SHO.Accordingly, mobile device 12 can support multiple services, with none,a subset or all of the services being in SHO.

As used herein, the term “High QoS service” represents a service thatcan use SHO to get an overall performance benefit including achieving adesired coverage level. Although this is indicated as a service, onlycertain flows of a given service may require SHO. In this case “High QoSflow” should be used in the place of “High QoS service” in the followingdescriptions.

Depending on the end-to-end QoS provisioning mechanism, theidentification of a traffic flow of a service for SHO support and theactivation of SHO can be different. Three ways of activating servicedependent SHO to address different methods of QoS provisioningmechanisms are provided by the present invention.

Method 1: a Mobile Device 12 is Required to Notify the BTS 14 Prior toLaunching a Certain High-QoS Service.

In accordance with this method, a mobile device 12 may subscribe to aHigh QoS service as a part of a service level agreement (“SLA”) inaddition to other services offered by the operator in which a mobiledevice has to specifically make a request prior to launching theapplication, e.g. use of a Session Initiation (“SIP”) protocol. Highlevel services can be identified, for example, by one or more of a QoSTag, Service Level Agreement Validation (“SLAV”), or traffic profiling.If a user is subscribed to at least one High QoS service, a systemoperator may configure the system to allow the mobile device 12 to useSHO whenever the C/I requirements for SHO with relation to that specificservice are met.

The end user applications (or a flow analysis device inside the network)must mark the packets belonging to the specific flows of a service thatmay require SHO or certain level of QoS. In the latter case, thewireless system 10 treats certain QoS types as requiring SHO accordingto a system capability criterion. All packets corresponding to the HighQoS flow are sent to multiple base stations 14 from the radio networkcontroller (“RNC”) 16 or from the mobile device 12 as specified in thespecific SHO scheme. For this purpose, for the downlink (communicationto the mobile device 12), a flow identification method should beprovided. Whenever a packet is received for a high QoS flow for anexisting user subscribed to the high QoS service, SHO is applied forthat service and the base station transceiver systems 14 are instructedto allocate resources in accordance with the SHO scheme that is used.For the uplink (communication from the mobile device 12), the mobiledevice 12 uses internal algorithms to determine which of the flows arethe high QoS flows and requests resources for those flows from BTSs 14in the active set.

The resource reservation process when the mobile device 12 is requiredto notify the BTS 14 is described with reference to FIG. 4. Packetsassociated with the service are marked with a QoS tag (step S100), e.g.,Differentiated Services Code Point (“DSCP”), either by the applicationsin the end points, i.e., the mobile and the corresponding node or, inthe downlink direction, by flow analysis devices in the network. In thecase of mobile device initiated SHO (step S102), the mobile device 12will inform the radio network controller/base station controller(“RNC/BSC”) 16 (via BTSs 14) prior to use that the service is a High-QoSservice (step S104).

The RNC/BSC 16 grants the SHO request (step S1006, taking intoconsideration the loading condition of the potential neighboring BTSs14. The relative signal strength and speed of the mobile device 12 arealso considered at this stage. If SHO criterion is already met for thatservice, the SHO procedures are followed to establish SHO links(add/drop links) as required for the downlink and/or uplink (resourceallocation, etc.). For uplink transmissions (step S108), the mobiledevice 12 requests resources from multiple base stations as specified inthe SHO procedure for a particular air interface technology (step S110).For the downlink, the RNC/BSC 16 identifies the packets destined for thespecific mobile device 12 that requires SHO (step S112), e.g., based onthe specific QoS tag in the packet, and sends the packets to multipleBTSs 14 (e.g., 14 a and 14 b) with appropriate framing in accordancewith SHO processing (step S114). Some systems may need to have SHOframes identified by the physical layer for SHO processing and thisshould be included in the media access control/radio link protocol(“MAC/RLP”) header or physical layer header as required on a frame byframe basis.

Method 2: a Mobile Device 12 is not Required to Notify the System Priorto Launching a High-QoS Service.

In accordance with this method, a mobile device may subscribe to a HighQoS service as a part of the SLA as in the first method, but the mobiledevice 12 is not required to request the launch of the SHO feature. Themobile device 12 may send/receive a High QoS packet any time,uncontrolled in either the uplink and/or the downlink direction. In thiscase, the first packet for that service indicates the new flow to thenetwork control entity, thereby triggering SHO will be triggered. Theother steps are similar to the first method when the mobile device 12 isrequired to notify the BTS 14 as described in detail above.

In certain systems, the mobile device 12 may not be required to requestthe launch of the SHO feature for all High-QoS services. However, insome systems, a select number of High QoS services may not requirespecific grants prior to launching the applications but a few servicesmay be allowed to request specific grants as in Method 1, describedabove.

The resource reservation process when the mobile device 12 is notrequired to notify the BTS 14 is described with reference to FIG. 5.Packets associated with the High QoS service are marked (step S116),e.g., with a specific DSCP code point, either by the applications in theend points, i.e., the mobile device and the corresponding node, or inthe downlink direction, by flow analysis devices in the network. The BTS14 or mobile device 12 continuously tracks the C/I conditions of theradio link (step S118) and determines when SHO should be usedselectively for some services. If the SHO criterion is met (step S120),the BTS 14 or mobile device 12 signals the RNC/BSC 16 that SHO may berequired (step S122). The RNC 16 continuously checks the packets in thedownlink direction to determine whether the packets have specific QoStags. Once a QoS tag requiring SHO is found (step S124), the RNC (1)invokes the link establishment procedure for SHO (step S126), includingresource allocation of multiple BTSs 14, (2) informs the mobile device12 of the SHO operation (step S128) and (3) sends packets to multipleBTSs 14, as required (step S130).

The resource allocation of multiple BTSs 14 may be done on a packet bypacket basis or as a regular allocation. Some systems may need to haveSHO frames identified by the physical layer for SHO processing and thisshould be included in the MAC/RLP header or physical layer header asrequired on a frame by frame (PHY or MAC) basis. For the uplink, anapplication on the mobile device 12 marks the packets with the QoS tagwhich is used by the control system to request SHO link establishment.Of note, once a service is identified as eligible to enter SHO, the nextaction preferably is the trigger for SHO.

Method 3: a System which does not have Explicit Mechanisms forIndicating QoS Requirements of a Traffic Flow.

In such a system, the identification of service flows may be done basedon traffic prediction and analysis schemes, monitoring schemes orperformance analysis techniques. For example, there may be a mechanismto monitor performance degradations, e.g., number of transmissionerrors, and to use this information as the trigger to improve QoS bymeans of SHO or other means. Depending on the C/I condition, thecontroller may activate SHO for that flow. Some systems may need to haveSHO frames identified by the physical layer for SHO processing, so thisis included in the MAC/RLP header or physical layer header as requiredon a frame by frame (PHY or MAC) basis. Another way to address QoS is toanalyze the traffic behaviors to understand the service types usingtechniques that are beyond the scope of this document.

C/I Based Trigger Conditions Depending on the Service to be Supported

The C/I trigger conditions to activate SHO are changed according to theQoS requirements of the service. A brief description is provided asfollows:

Adding a link: A new BTS 14 link will be added if a mobile device's 12current C/I is inadequate to support a given service, e.g. >0.1% packeterror rate or C/I<−3 dB, or if the addition of the link is expected toincrease the overall system resource usage efficiency. Such anexpectation is determined by assessing the pilot strengths of active setBTSs 14 to determine whether certain differential conditions are metwhich depend on the QoS requirements of the service.

Dropping a link: A BTS 14 link in SHO will be dropped if the mobiledevice's C/I condition received from a single BTS 14 or a subset of BTSs14 of the BTSs 14 involved in the SHO improves to a level where theservice can be supported without the weakest BTS 14 link (the BTS 14having least pilot power) and the dropping of the weakest BTS 14 linkwould result in an increase in the overall resource efficiency. However,in order to avoid a ping-pong effect, the drop criterion is always keptas a less stringent criterion than the add criterion. In addition, as inthe current systems, system loading will be also be used link dropdetermination.

An example of typical downlink communications in the present inventionis described with reference to FIGS. 6-8. FIG. 6 is a diagram showingthe flow of downlink data communication processing for the presentinvention. FIG. 7 is an exemplary MAC framing diagram constructed inaccordance with the present invention in which each packet includes aheader indicating whether it is to be operated in SHO or anothermacro-diversity mode. As is shown in FIG. 6, mobile device 12 issupported by a plurality of base station transceiver systems 14 a and 14b. The active set for mobile device 12 is shown in FIG. 8 for packetFlows 1-3. The service associated with Flow 0 does not support or is notin soft handoff. Macro-diversity for Flow 1 is provided by fast cellswitching (“FCS”), while Flows 2 and 3 are in or are supported by SHO.Of note, BTS 14 c and BTS 14 d described for Flow 3 in FIG. 8 areomitted from FIG. 6 for the sake of simplicity, it being understood thatBTS 14 c and 14 d, like BTSs 14 a and 14 b, are coupled to RNC 16 via IPtransport links.

FIG. 7 also shows an exemplary MAC framing diagram in which each packetincludes a header indicating whether it is to be operated in SHO oranother macro-diversity mode, e.g. fast cell switching. In FIG. 7 thisheader is shown as “MD Type”. Setting the MD Type value to apredetermined value is used to indicate the macro-diversity mode. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 7, the value “0” is set for the MD Type inFlow 1 in which this value corresponds to fast cell switching. The MDType in Flow 2 is set to “1” which corresponds to SHO. It is alsocontemplated that common channel signaling can be used to inform mobiledevice 12 as to which data flows and/or services are in SHO. In thismanner, the present invention advantageously allows a multitude ofdifferent types of macro-diversity schemes to be implemented within asystem and/or for different services within a system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the flow of uplink data communicationprocessing for the present invention. FIG. 9 shows two mobile devices 12a and 12 b (referred to collectively herein as mobile device 12) inwhich mobile device 12 a (MD 12 a) is using FCS for Flow 1 and SHO forFlow 2. Flow 0 is not in SHO and/or the service corresponding to Flow 0does not support SHO. Mobile device 12 b (MD 12 b) has its own two flowsin which its Flow 0 is not in SHO and/or the service corresponding toFlow 0 does not support SHO. Flow 1 from MD 12 b is using FCS. Of note,Flows 0 and 1 from MD 12 a and MD 12 b are labeled as such forconvenience and do not mean or imply that the flows themselves areidentical.

The present invention advantageously allows the economical use of SHO,such that its benefit is maximized while the onerous resourcerequirements for supporting this feature are minimized. The presentinvention has the potential use in standards supporting packet basedfat-pipe transmission, such as in OFDM/MIMO based IEEE 802.16 standards.The present invention can also be introduced in Wideband Code DivisionMultiple Access (“WCDMA”) or CDMA standards if SHO is included as afeature for the fat-pipe downlink.

The present invention provides a method and system to facilitate theimplementation of coverage improvement techniques without centralizedresource control thereby significantly simplifying cellularcommunication system access network architecture. In accordance with thepresent invention, the multi-base resource reservation required fordownlink/uplink SHO or interference avoidance schemes are performed bythe mobile device 12 (after obtaining resource availability informationfrom multiple base stations 14) rather than a central entity in thenetwork such as the RNC 16.

Of note, while the system and method are described herein using softhandoff, the system and method are applicable to any coverageimprovement scheme (soft handoff, interference avoidance, etc.) whichrequires coordinated multi-base resource reservation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of another exemplary system 26 constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention arranged tosupport resource reservation/coordination. System 26 is the same assystem 10 shown in FIG. 3 with the exception that the functionalityprovided by MSF 24 in system 10 is provided by mobile devices 12 andBTSs 14. As such, RNC 16 in system 26 is optional and BTSs 14 cancommunicate directly with wireless access network 22 and the elementsdirectly or indirectly coupled thereto. The method described herein canbe applied to enable both downlink (BTS 14 to mobile device 12) anduplink (mobile device to BTS 14) resource coordination. As noted above,although the system and method are explained with reference to SHO, thesystem and method of the present invention can be applied to any scheme,such as an interference avoidance scheme or power management scheme,requiring base station resource coordination. In order to simplifyaccess network architecture, the current invention provides resourcereservation by the mobile devices engaged in SHO instead of a centralentity such as an RNC.

Resource reservation/coordination in accordance with the presentinvention is explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 11-14. Ingeneral, BTSs 14 typically have a pool of resource units reserved forSHO. The MSF informs the BTSs 14 of how many resource units to reserveby monitoring the loading conditions of the BTSs 14. It is alsocontemplated that the BTSs 14 themselves can independently monitorthemselves and reserve resource units, but resource units in such a caseneed to be a subset of a common SHO resource pool. The BTSs 14 in turnalert mobile device 12 as to available resource time units in the BTSspool. Mobile device 12 determines available resource time units commonto all active set BTSs 14 and informs the active BTSs 14 of the same. Inaccordance with the present invention, resource reservation can occur(1) at the beginning of a service/session set up such as for regularconstant bit rate (“CBR”)-like traffic, e.g., voice, (2) for a specifiedtime period or (3) dynamically based on packet availability. The methodfor the first two cases are similar and are explained below as differentaspects of “Batch Reservation”. The third case is explained under theheading “Dynamic Reservation”. Each case is identified as follows:

A. Batch reservation during session set up: A mobile device requestsallocation/reservation of resources during session set up for an entiredata session, e.g., CBR-like traffic such as voice over IP (“VoIP”).

B. Batch reservation for a specified period: Allocation/reservation ofresources is made for a specified period, i.e., time or for a multiplenumber of physical layer/MAC frames.

C. Dynamic Reservation: In this case, the resources are dynamicallyreserved as and when traffic is available.

As used herein, the term “Resource Time Unit” (“RTU”) is defined as aspecific time unit of the shared fat-pipe in a fat-pipe system,distinctly identified by a specific time period of a physical layerframe/multi-frame which may have a one-to-one mapping to a MAC frame.This may be a frequency and a time unit, a group of sub-carriers or afrequency and a code unit.

Batch reservation for an entire session (case A above) is described withreference to FIG. 11. During session setup the SHO active-set of BTSs 14are identified by the mobile device 12 (step S132). The mobile device 12requests all SHO BTSs 14 to send the details of the available RTUs forSHO and allowed maximum reservation, both of which depend on thesubscriber profile and the loading level of the BTSs 14. The BTSs 14inform the mobile device 12 of the available resource units andcorresponding time slots (step S134).

The BTSs 14 block this resource as unavailable for consideration forfurther SHO reservation requests until the mobile device 12 respondswith a proposed reservation time (step S136). This helps to avoid doublebooking of resources. Although it is marked as unavailable, a BTS 14 isfree to use the resource for current transmissions, e.g., for non-SHOusers until the mobile device's 12 response is received. Since theresponse (selection of a time slot out of the proposed time slots, asindicated in the next step) from the mobile device is sent very quickly,this time period is expected to be small (<10 milliseconds) and will notcause blocking of other mobile devices trying to set up SHO sessions.Even if blocking occurs, the request can be handled immediately afterserving a request with the only result being some additional delay. Thiscan also be resolved by allowing multiple requests at substantially thesame time (as in step A.4 below), or by allowing the BTS 14 to broadcastthe available time slots and allowing mobile devices to independentlychoose them (which might cause collisions).

Upon receiving the available resources from multiple BTSs 14, a mobiledevice 12 selects a common RTU(s), e.g., a time slot and correspondingsub-carriers, and uses a dedicated signaling channel to inform all theBTSs 14 or uses the primary BTS 14 which sends the common RTU via theaccess network to the other BTSs 14 (step S134). The mobile device 12can also provide several other pieces of information as may be requiredfor the SHO algorithm, such as the sequence number of the LLC frame tobe transmitted in the first slot to ensure that the BTSs 14 are allsending the same information.

BTSs 14 may allow processing requests from multiple mobile devices 12,e.g. 12 a and 12 b at the same time. For the sake of simplicity, mobiledevice 12 b is not shown in FIG. 10, it being understood that mobiledevice 12 b can communicate with one or more BTSs 14. In this case, onlya portion of available resources can be sent/marked to a mobile deviceallowing the ability to send/mark another non-overlapping portion of theavailable resources for other SHO allocation requests. However, thissegmentation and sending only a portion of the available slot spaceincreases the probability that a mobile device 12 will fail to find amatching set of free slots. This probability increases as the number ofsimultaneous requests increases. One solution to this issue is tosubdivide the available resource space to increase the number of RTUs.This way, the probability of finding a match is higher.

For example, assuming that SHO users occupy 50% of resources in average,with 40 RTUs, two simultaneous requests can be allowed with >99% successrate (for 2-way handoff). With 100 RTUs, up to 5 simultaneous requestscan be handled with a 99% success rate. There are several ways toimprove the success rate. One way is to arrange the available time slotsin some order, e.g., according to RTU ID number. When a mobile deviceselects a time slot, the mobile device can always select the RTU withthe lowest ID number (if there are multiple matches). This helps to freeup the resources with higher ID numbers for SHO attempts, therebyincreasing the probability for a match.

It is also contemplated that another enhancement technique is toimplement a prioritization process for the available RTUs with theassistance of the mobile device 12. The mobile device 12 assigns apriority index for the RTUs which are freely available in multiple BTSs14 and informs its active set BTSs 14. The priority index isproportional to the number of BTSs 14 that are available. The active setBTSs 14 in turn, combine all such priority indications from all themobile devices 12 and derive a combined priority index for all of theRTUs. This combined priority index is sent to the mobile devices withthe resource availability message. Whenever a mobile device 12 hasmultiple RTU selection opportunities, the mobile device 12 selects theRTU with lowest priority index, meaning high priority RTUs are kept forfuture SHO mobile devices which might find it difficult to select acommon RTU. This increases the probability of finding a RTU match acrossmultiple BTSs 14.

Another way, is to segment the RTU space (A, B, C, D, and E). Once amobile device 12 is active, a BTS 14 provides the list of segmentsaccording to the SHO loading condition of each segment. Then, the mobiledevice 12 assigns itself to one of the segments according to a combinedPriority Index (“PI”). This PI is evaluated using (1) the prioritieseach BTS 14 in SHO active set indicated for each segment and (2) themobile device's 12 chance of connecting to a BTS 14 as a SHO user. Whenit goes into SHO, all the SHO BTSs 14 can indicate the free resources inthat segment only, thus increasing the matching probability for findinga matching RTU from multiple BTSs 14. The loading-based segmentselection ensures that each segment has fairly equal number of SHOusers.

Initial resource reservation period may be evaluated based on minimumservice rate and a fixed MCS for SHO, any other service requirement orbased on traffic flow monitoring reports. The resource reservation maybe adjusted later (reduced or increased) by the mobile device 12 or anyof the BTSs 14, e.g. based on the traffic availability and loading ofthe base stations. On the downlink, BTSs 14 transmit to the mobiledevices 12 from the beginning of the allocated period. If thetransmission to the SHO mobile device is completed before the allocatedperiod terminates, the BTSs 14 independently schedule other non-SHOusers within the same time period. Furthermore, some sort of “end oftransmission” marker may be sent from (all of) the BTS 14. If it is notdone, the mobile in SHO may record a “transmission error” because theframes received from each of the BTS 14 will not match.

On the uplink, a mobile device 12 may decide to release the allocatedamount a time ‘T’ ahead of the actual scheduled time, if the mobiledevice 12 observes that it does not have sufficient data to be sentduring the relevant period. The period ‘T’ allows the BTS 14 toindependently allocate that time to another non-SHO user. In addition, amobile device 12 can cancel the repeated reservation at any timedepending on a traffic monitoring output or a service disconnectionorder. Mobile device 12 can also inform BTSs 14 of the amount of data inits (mobile device 12) buffer so that the BTSs 14 can release some ofthe reserved SHO resource units to non-SHO units. This is particularlyapplicable to bursty data.

Batch reservation for a specified period (case B) is now described. Insome cases, the services requiring SHO may not be present initially anda flow is subsequently identified as requiring SHO using a trafficmonitoring/identification process. For constant bit rate traffic, theperiodic resource reservation can be repeated until otherwise notifiedby the mobile device 12. For some cases, the resources may be reservedon a regular basis for a short period of time. The method is as follows:

The resource co-ordination process in this case is similar to theprocedure for batch reservation for an entire session described above(method for case A above) except that the reservation can happen uponidentification of a regular data flow which is either forecasted to beavailable for some time, such as may be based on a traffic monitoringprocess, or require soft handoff for better system efficiency andestimated to be efficiently operated if resources are reserved for sometime (as opposed to reserve resources on a packet-by-packet basis asindicated below).

Dynamic reservation (case C above) is described with reference to FIGS.12 and 13. In the dynamic reservation case, the identification of a highquality of service (“QoS”) SHO enabled service's packet/flow triggersthe resource reservation process. The dynamic reservation process fordownlink communication is described with reference to FIG. 12. On thedownlink, the SHO active set member BTSs 14 transmit their availableresources, e.g., RTUs, to the mobile device 12 within a specific timeperiod (step S140). The time period may be agreed upon previouslydepending on the buffer occupancy or a fixed value provided to thesystem by the operator. The mobile device 12 responds with theidentification of a common resource (step S142), at which time the BTSs14 begin their packet transmission (step S144). Depending on availablebuffer size, if more packets are available for transmission (step S146),the BTSs 14 piggyback their next resource availability to the end of thetransmission (step S148). This cycle repeats every time a packetrequiring SHO is received without a past reservation of SHO transmissiontime.

The dynamic reservation process for uplink communication is describedwith reference to FIG. 13. On the uplink, upon detection of a packet forSHO, the mobile device 12 transmits a request for available resources toall the SHO BTSs 14 (step S150). The SHO BTSs 14 respond with theavailable resources (step S152) and the mobile device 12 matches theseand selects one resource unit (or multiple if allowed), informs the BTSs14 of its selected resources, and transmits on the common resource (stepS154). Again, the mobile device 12 piggybacks a request for the nextresource allocation and the amount, and the process repeats until themobile device signals the end of the transmission (step S156). Thisexchange may happen on a burst by burst basis depending on theapplication.

An alternate method in which BTSs 14 are required to broadcast/multicastthe available resources to all of the mobile devices in its coveragearea or to a subset of mobile devices which may engage in a SHO sessionwith the BTS 14 is explained below. This alternate solution reduces theamount of messaging required with the additional requirement ofmaintaining and updating a resource availability table at the mobiledevice. If this is done, mobile device does not have to make a requestfor available resources every time it requires new/additional resources.When multiple mobile devices request the same resource, a collisionoccurs and a BTS 14 can process only one request. In that case, the BTS14 informs the unselected mobile device(s) about the failure and thatthe unselected mobile device(s) need to make a separate request forresource reservation.

This may be implemented by first informing the mobile devices of theavailable resources when it comes close to a BTSs 14 boundary, laterupdating the resource reservations and later releasing the resources.This method can also be implemented by having the BTS 14 broadcast allthe available resources to the mobile device on an exclusive channel.The mobile device can then independently select the best time slotcommon to a majority of the SHO-BTSs 14.

Also note that active set maintenance can also be done at the device inall of these cases to further simplify the architecture. However, anactive set table is needed on a per mobile device basis at a centralentity to do some higher layer processing such as IP multicasting or IPpacket selection. In addition, in all of the above cases, it iscontemplated that the secondary BTS's communications with the mobiledevice may happen explicitly using a dedicated or shared channel or, itmay happen via the network, e.g., via the primary BTS 14.

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary diagram depicting a window for resourcereservations for mobile devices 12 a and 12 b using BTSs 14 a-14 d (14 cand 14 d are not shown in FIG. 10, it being understood that BTSs 14 cand 14 d are merely two additional BTSs which can be in communicationwith mobile devices 12 a and 12 b). As is shown in FIG. 14, using any ofthe above described resource reservation techniques, mobile device 12 ahas been granted one resource unit per window by BTSs 14 a and 14 b.Mobile device 12 b has been granted two resource units per window byBTSs 14 b, 14 c and 14 d.

Other components used to complete the set of soft handoff functionsimplement support for multicasting to multiple base stations for thedownlink and combining or selection of packets received from multiplebase stations for the uplink which can be easily achieved within adistributed architecture. Interference avoidance schemes such ascoordinated power adjustment or coordinated stopping of specifictransmissions in specific times do not require even the above mentionedfunctions (the interference avoidance scheme may however require anindication of the available data packet sizes to dynamically stop thetransmissions in the active set base stations in order to reduce theover the air messages from mobile device).

Referring again to FIG. 3, the present invention also provides a systemand method which provides soft handoff in a distributed architecture inwhich the RLP processing is done at the BTS 14. In addition to providinga means to use conventional soft handoff elements such as active setmanagement, multicasting of packets to soft handoff BTSs 14, etc.,within this environment, the present invention provides additionalfeatures such as fixed segmentation of RLP PDUs for downlink softhandoff, a resource reservation database at the RNC to avoid overlappingof reservations in different BTSs 14, explicit resource, e.g., timeunits, reservation at different BTSs 14 on the basis of average servicerequirements for both downlink and uplink soft handoff (slow updates aremade to the resource reservation to ensure that the variation in packetarrivals over time is accounted for), reutilization of excess resourcereservations by BTSs 14 for non-soft handoff transmissions, buffering ofdownlink data packets at the BTSs 14 to address the bursty nature oftraffic with slow changes to reservations based on buffer status,accommodation for HARQ retransmissions from/to a single BTS 14 in aseparate non-SHO scheduling interval and reassembly of RLP PDUs intohigher layer packets at the BTS 14.

In accordance with the present invention, downlink and uplink softhandoff is implemented without requiring radio MAC/RLP processing at acentral location such as RNC. Higher layer protocol centralizedprocessing is also advantageously minimized.

The centralized control functions used are advantageously limited toactive set management and coordinated per-user resource reservationamong multiple base stations 14. The main bearer functions carried outby the central entity include multicasting of the higher layer (e.g.,IP) packets in the downlink, and reordering and discarding of duplicatedhigher layer packets in the uplink.

The active set management function carried out by the central entity,such as the RNC 16, is similar to the conventional procedure availablein current cellular systems, i.e., use of the pilot informationtransmitted by the BTS 14 to update a mobile device's 12 active set. ABTS 14 is added to the mobile device's active set dynamically dependingon the relative carrier to interference (“C/I”) measurements, e.g. whenC/I difference is less than 3 dB, provided the new BTS 14 is not in anoverload condition and unable to support additional mobile devices.

The scheduling of a MAC/RLP frame should happen at the same time formultiple BTSs 14 (for both uplink and downlink) in order to obtain thesoft handoff gain. For both uplink and downlink, the soft handoffresource reservation at different BTSs 14 is done by maintaining adatabase at the RNC, and updating the database such that the requireduser transmissions for soft handoff are synchronized in the differentcells of the RNC. BTS 14 can request an increase in the SHO schedulinginterval from MSF 24 if buffers are overloaded in the BTS 14. Thisresource reservation process can be optimized by using packingalgorithms as well as the concept of zoning where collocated BTSs 14 canbe zoned and soft handoff resource reservations independently applied tothe zones. Since soft handoff resource reservation does not need to bedone dynamically on a packet by packet basis, the messaging delay fromRNC 16 to BTS 14 is advantageously minimized. Although a reasonable timewindow is reserved for a soft handoff user, unused soft handoff timeslots for non-soft handoff users should be reused when sufficienttraffic is not available to fill the allocated time window. As isexplained below, to minimize messaging delays, the mobile device 12determines the Adaptive Modulation and Coding (“AMC”) level for bothuplink and downlink soft handoff transmissions depending on theestimated combined C/I of the active transmission links.

Aspects of the method provided by the present invention element whichallows the RLP/MAC frame processing at the BTS 14 are the segmentationof packets for downlink transmission and reassembly of MAC frames foruplink transmission for soft handoff users. For the downlinktransmission, a fixed segmentation rule is established so that each BTS14 does exactly same segmentation of the higher layer packets. Thisensures that the same data is sent over an allocated time slot.

Since there is a considerable C/I gain obtained from soft handoffprocessing, retransmissions (Layer 2 or HARQ) are usually not requiredfor the packets being transmitted using soft handoff. Therefore, dynamicexplicit scheduling from the RNC for retransmission of packets which canadd significant messaging delay is not required as part of the presentinvention. Optionally, retransmissions could be done without using softhandoff via the strongest BTS, if the first transmission (with the aidof soft handoff) failed. The failure of the soft handoff transmission ishowever very unlikely if a reasonable fade margin is used for the softhandoff transmissions.

The elements of the present invention specific to downlink transmissionare described as follows. For the downlink, the main differentiatorsbetween existing soft handoff methods and the method of the presentinvention relate to the fact that each BTS 14 performs independentsegmentation of the received higher layer packets (e.g., IP packets)into MAC frames and the central entity only reserves per device-basedresources for the soft handoff mobile devices. As such, per device-basedsoft handoff resources are reserved at each of the respective BTSs 14 bythe RNC to ensure that the transmissions are done at the same time. Ifthe total allocated time is not used for the soft handoff transmission,the rest of the allocated time can be used by individual BTSs 14 pertheir discretion. The total allocated time may not be used due to eithernon-availability of traffic to fill the full allocated time or due tothe use of a higher modulation and coding level for transmission whichis enabled by the higher signal levels available to the mobile device.In order to have synchronized transmissions, the decision of what partof the available time duration is to be used for the SHO data is alsodefined in the prior agreement among BTSs 14 (e.g., the first timeframes of the allocated period are always used for SHO transmission byall the BTSs 14).

In accordance with the present invention, the RLP buffer is no longermaintained at the RNC with complete coordination of transmissionsdirectly from the RNC. Instead, in accordance with the presentinvention, a buffer is maintained at the BTS 14 and the RNC is notgenerally involved in the bearer flow details, except for multicastingthe data packets to the soft handoff BTSs 14. However, it should benoted that multicasting is required even without SHO to support fastcell switching. Overflow of buffers is avoided by having the BTS 14request additional resource reservation from the RNC as the buffer queueincreases. Thus, the BTS 14 maintains the RLP buffer, instead of the RNCan in current systems. In addition, the mobile device 12 maintains asignaling channel with the active BTSs 14 to provide a way toacknowledge the packets. Packets are discarded once an acknowledgementis received from the mobile.

The process of the present invention to enable downlink soft handoff inan architecture with distributed Layer 2 (MAC/RLP) and with multipleantenna processing options is described with references to FIGS. 1 and15. Initially, the mobile device 12 determines and reports potential BTS14 active set members to MSF 24 (step S158). The serving BTS 14 informsthe MSF 24 of potential BTSs 14 for the active set (step S160). If theloading of a potential BTS 14 is below a predetermined threshold (stepS162), the new BTS 14 is included into active set (step S164) and MSF 24determines if the soft handoff trigger conditions are also met for thegiven service. MSF 24 determines resource reservation (e.g.,transmission times) for the mobile device's 12 active set BTSs 14 (stepS166) and informs all base stations in active set (step S168) includingAMC level and any antenna processing option selected by the mobiledevice. Of note, AMC level and the antenna processing option areselected by mobile device 12 on the basis of combined pilot power/C/Imeasurements and/or velocity of mobile device 12 and are reported tobase stations 14 in the active set. The AMC level and the antennaprocessing option can be determined by mobile device 12 on a packet bypacket basis or for a specific time period. Conservative MCS levelchoices will minimize the need for HARQ or Layer 2 retransmissions.

The MSF resource reservation period is determined based on a minimumsatisfactory service rate and a fixed MCS for soft handoff. Thescheduler at each base station 14 accommodates the soft handoff mobiledevices 12 as a priority in reserved resource assignments. Makingconservative MCS level selections will minimize the need for Layer 2 orHARQ retransmissions.

Downlink transmissions to the mobile device are synchronized (stepS170). Synchronized transmissions on the downlink without retransmissionresults in the mobile device 12 combining the received analog signal tomaximize gain. Failed RLP packets are not retransmitted. Instead, it isleft to conservative choice of modulation to minimize errors. This isconsistent with real time traffic support where retransmissions at lowCarrier-to-interference Ratios (“CIRs”) may not be possible due to thetight delay requirements. Optionally, retransmission of packets may beallowed from the serving BTS 14 (i.e., the strongest BTS) using non-softhandoff slots.

The base station scheduler optimizes the use of resources bymultiplexing other best effort non-soft handoff user packets into unusedexplicit soft handoff resource assignments. The BTS 14 sends a requestto MSF 24 to increase its soft handoff resource assignment if the BTS's14 buffers are filling up due to dynamic traffic conditions. With theseelements, download soft handoff in a distributed Layer 2 architecturecan be implemented in accordance with the present invention.

Of note, as another algorithm for the MSF to reserve resources fordownlink SHO, the MSF can reserve resources to match the worst case AMClevel, assuming that the weakest signal level is expected to continuefor a reasonable period of time. All active set BTSs 14 then segment theIP packet based on the chosen dynamic AMC level selected by mobiledevice 12.

An uplink soft handoff method of the present invention is now describedwith reference to FIGS. 1 and 16. A similar process as for downlink softhandoff described above (FIG. 15) can be followed for uplink softhandoff for active set identification. As described above, soft handoffresource reservations can also done by the MSF/RNC and provided to theBTSs 14. For bursty traffic, the reservations for soft handoff may beimplemented to support the highest service rate required for the givenservice and some fixed AMC level. The resources may be reused on thebasis of the mobile device indicating the amount of buffer loading andthe choice of the AMC level so that the BTS 14 scheduler can reallocatethe resource for transmissions from other non-soft handoff users.However, this information should be provided during some time periodprior to its allocated schedule so that the BTS 14 can grant the balanceof the resources to other users.

Initially, MSF 24 determines resource reservation, such as schedulingtimes, for the soft handoff mobile device 12 in the active set BTSs 14(step S172) and informs all of these BTSs 14 to reserve the times forsoft handoff reception (step S174). Note that unlike in CDMA whereexplicit reservation is not required, explicit reservation is generallyrequired for uplink soft handoff in all active set BTSs 14 withOFDMA/MIMO. This is because uplink transmissions in OFDMA/MIMO systemsare not separable by codes. Mobile device 12 receives a grant via theserving BTS 14 (step S176). The mobile device determines the AMC leveland transmits (step S178).

All active set BTSs 14 receive RLP packets (step S180). The omission ofHARQ or Layer 2 retransmissions assumes diversity gain is large.Alternatively, if it is feasible, retransmission may be allowed on asingle link using a time slot grant from one of the active sets outsidesoft handoff reserved time slots. Each BTS 14 sends an ACK forsuccessfully received packets (step S182) and each BTS 14 retains allsuccessfully acknowledged packets at its end, and reassembles a higherlayer, e.g., IP, packet (step S184). The BTSs 14 transmit correctlyreceived higher layer, e.g., IP, packets to MSF 24 (step S186). MSF 24reorders correct IP packets in sequential order and forwards thereordered IP packets to the external network after discarding duplicateIP packets (step S188). Of course, mobile station 12 retransmits ahigher layer protocol packet if it determines that a higher layer packetwas received a BTS 14 with an error.

The concept of flat networks where most of the Layer 2 processing isdone at the BTS 14 is becoming increasing popular with networkarchitectures such as the Flarion architecture as well as those ofemerging standards under IEEE 802.16e. The present inventionadvantageously provides a method and system to address macro-diversityfor these architectures. In accordance with the present invention, therole of the RNC to coordinate simultaneous scheduling is advantageouslynot required because mobile device 12 can facilitate the synchronoustransmission from different BTSs 14. The present invention enables thesupport of SHO in systems which do not have a centralized control entitysuch as an RNC 16 to co-ordinate the simultaneous transmission of datafrom multiple base stations. By leveraging mobile device 12 to performthis SHO function, the dependency of requiring centralized networkcontrol is removed and creates ease of application for the SHO feature.The only additional resources required are increased air interfacesignaling and some additional software in the mobile device.

The present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or acombination of hardware and software. An implementation of the methodand system of the present invention can be realized in a centralizedfashion by having one computer system support the mobile devices, or ina distributed fashion where different elements used to support themobile devices are spread across several interconnected computersystems. Any kind of computer system, or other apparatus adapted forcarrying out the methods described herein, is suited to perform thefunctions described herein.

A typical combination of hardware and software could be a generalpurpose computer system having a central processing unit and a computerprogram stored on a storage medium that, when loaded and executed,controls the computer system such that it carries out the methodsdescribed herein. The present invention can also be embedded in acomputer program product, which comprises all the features enabling theimplementation of the methods described herein, and which, when loadedin a computer system is able to carry out these methods. Storage mediumrefers to any volatile or non-volatile storage device.

Computer program or application in the present context means anyexpression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructionsintended to cause a system having an information processing capabilityto perform a particular function either directly or after either or bothof the following a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b)reproduction in a different material form. In addition, unless mentionwas made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of theaccompanying drawings are not to scale. Significantly, this inventioncan be embodied in other specific forms without departing from thespirit or essential attributes thereof, and accordingly, referenceshould be had to the following claims, rather than to the foregoingspecification, as indicating the scope of the invention.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the presentinvention is not limited to what has been particularly shown anddescribed herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above tothe contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawingsare not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teachings without departing from the scope andspirit of the invention, which is limited only by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a processing element,wherein the processing element is configured to: receive a firstplurality of data transmissions from a first set of station transceiversystems, within a downlink bandwidth of an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplex (OFDM cellular communications system, receive a secondplurality of data transmissions from a second set of station transceiversystems, within the downlink bandwidth of the OFDM cellularcommunications system, wherein each of the first and second sets ofstation transceiver systems comprises one or more station transceiversystems, and wherein the processing element is configured to receive thefirst and second pluralities of data transmissions contemporaneously;and receive, for each of the first and second pluralities of datatransmissions, a control signal related to the respective datatransmission, wherein each control signal provides an indication of therespective set of station transceiver systems used for the respectivedata transmission, wherein the indication of the respective set ofstation transceiver systems used for the respective data transmissioncomprises an index, wherein the index corresponds to the respective setof station transceiver systems used for the respective datatransmission.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processingelement is further configured to: receive pilots transmitted by thefirst and second sets of station transceiver systems; and transmit atleast one indication of radio link conditions to at least one stationtransceiver system of the first and second sets of station transceiversystems.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least oneindication is based on the received pilots.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein to receive the first and second plurality of data transmissionsthe processing element is further configured to receive a first of thefirst plurality of data transmissions in a first subframe; and receive afirst of the second plurality of data transmissions in a second framefollowing the first subframe.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinreceiving the first plurality of data transmissions comprises receivinga first data transmission from a first station transceiver system of thefirst set of station transceiver systems.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein a particular data transmission according to a first value of theindication corresponds to resource reservation at a plurality of stationtransceiver systems of the respective set of station transceiver systemsfor the particular data transmission.
 7. A method, comprising: by amobile station: receiving a first plurality of data transmissions from afirst set of station transceiver systems, within a downlink bandwidth ofan orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM cellular communicationssystem, receiving a second plurality of data transmissions from a secondset of station transceiver systems, within the downlink bandwidth of theOFDM cellular communications system, wherein each of the first andsecond sets of station transceiver systems comprises one or more stationtransceiver systems, and wherein the mobile station is configured toreceive the first and second pluralities of data transmissionscontemporaneously; and receiving, for each of the first and secondpluralities of data transmissions, a control signal related to therespective data transmission, wherein each control signal provides anindication of the respective set of station transceiver systems used forthe respective data transmission, wherein the indication of therespective set of station transceiver systems used for the respectivedata transmission comprises an index, wherein the index corresponds tothe respective set of station transceiver systems used for therespective data transmission.
 8. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: receiving pilots transmitted by the first and second sets ofstation transceiver systems; and transmitting at least one indication ofradio link conditions to at least one station transceiver system of thefirst and second sets of station transceiver systems, wherein the atleast one indication is based on the received pilots, wherein the atleast one indication of radio link conditions comprises an indicationassociated with an antenna processing option.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein receiving the first and second plurality of data transmissionscontemporaneously comprises: receiving a first of the first plurality ofdata transmissions in a first subframe; and receiving a first of thesecond plurality of data transmissions in a second frame following thefirst subframe.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein a particular datatransmission according to a least a first value of the indicationcorresponds to resource reservation at a plurality of stationtransceiver systems of the respective set of station transceiver systemsfor the particular data transmission.
 11. The method of claim 7, whereinreceiving the first plurality of data transmissions comprises receivinga first data transmission from a first station transceiver system of thefirst set of station transceiver systems.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein receiving the second plurality of data transmissions comprisesreceiving a second data transmission from a second station transceiversystem of the second set of station transceiver systems.
 13. A firststation transceiver system, comprising: wireless communicationcircuitry; and processing hardware coupled to the wireless communicationcircuitry, wherein the processing hardware and the wirelesscommunication circuitry are configured to: transmit a first plurality ofdata transmissions to a mobile device within a downlink bandwidth of anorthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) cellular communicationssystem, wherein the first station receiver system is a member of a firststation transceiver set, wherein a second station transceiver set isconfigured to transmit a second plurality of data transmissions to themobile device within the downlink bandwidth of the OFDM cellularcommunications system contemporaneously with the first plurality of datatransmissions, wherein each of the first and second sets of stationtransceiver systems comprises one or more station transceiver systems;transmit a control signal related to a respective data transmission ofthe first plurality of transmissions, wherein each control signalprovides an indication of the respective set of station transceiversystems used for the respective data transmission, wherein theindication of the respective set of station transceiver systems used forthe respective data transmission comprises an index, wherein the indexcorresponds to the respective set of station transceiver systems usedfor the respective data transmission.
 14. The first station transceiversystem of claim 13, wherein the processing hardware and the wirelesscommunication circuitry are further configured to: transmit pilots; andreceive at least one indication of radio link conditions, wherein the atleast one indication is based on the received pilots from the first andsecond sets of station transceiver systems.
 15. The first stationtransceiver system of claim 13, wherein transmission of the secondplurality of data transmissions contemporaneously with the firstplurality of data transmissions comprises: transmitting a first of thefirst plurality of data transmissions in a subframe followingtransmission of first of the second plurality of data transmissions. 16.The first station transceiver system of claim 15, wherein a particulardata transmission according to a least a first value of the indicationcorresponds to resource reservation at a plurality of stationtransceiver systems of the respective set of station transceiver systemsfor the particular data transmission.
 17. The first station transceiversystem of claim 15, wherein the processing hardware and the wirelesscommunication circuitry are further configured to transmit a controlsignal related to a respective data transmission of the secondpluralities of transmissions, wherein each control signal provides anindication of the respective set of station transceiver systems used forthe respective data transmission.